#General

What makes an automatic (or semiautomatic) weapon work? How do these weapons accomplish being able to fire round after round through a single barrel with no interference from the operator? That’s what I aim to explain in this series, which hopefully will give my readers a brief and readily accessible foundation on firearms operating mechanisms. For some of you, many of these articles will not tell you anything you don’t already know, but be patient: I plan to be very thorough in my coverage of different operating mechanisms. The scope of this series will be the operating mechanisms of single-barreled firearms, minus their feeding mechanisms (which I will cover separately).

After criticizing the Army’s Modular Handgun System program last week, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley spoke again about the program, further refining his desire to select not just any new pistol, but specifically to piggyback Army purchases of new handguns onto  SOCOM procurement of the Glock 19. Via SoldierSystems.net:

The Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley spoke yesterday at the Future of War Conference, and criticized the Modular Handgun System program for the degree of bureaucracy and red tape it takes for the Pentagon to select a new pistol for the Army. Milley rightly pointed out that not only are handguns hardly the forefront weapons of modern battle, but that they are a very mature technology, so selecting a new one should be very straightforward and inexpensive. From Military.com: